While Brown starts at right guard with 1st team, 1st-round draft choice will be in thick of things

BOURBONNAIS — After not seeing him since the rookie minicamp in early May, the Bears wasted little time putting first-round draft pick Kyle Long into the heart of the action.

James Brown started with the first team at right guard in Friday's opening practice of training camp at Olivet Nazarene University but Long quickly was worked into a rotation with the goal obviously being for him to win the job before the start of the season.

But Long has a lot of work to do after NFL-NCAA rules forced him to watch organized team meetings via Skype. Nevertheless, just two years ago the Bears had first-round pick Gabe Carimi start the season at right tackle and they feel confident Long will benefit learning from veteran center Roberto Garza.

"There's a competition going on, and we have a good plan for our guards, for James and Kyle to both get work," coach Marc Trestman said. "It's going to play itself out."

Long was excited to get to work but knows he must refine his movements.

"Physically, I feel fine but from a technical standpoint there are things I need to work on, and that's obvious," he said. "They want to see me on film because they didn't in the OTAs or the minicamp. I just want to earn every rep."

Long said he's not overwhelmed but he does get frustrated at times.

"I want to be doing as well as I can be, and it doesn't happen every time," he said. "Everybody gets beat, everybody has a couple of bad reps, so I need to accept that, swallow that and get back out here tomorrow and get to work," he said.

Hurry-up offense: The offense zipped in and out of the huddle at times with Trestman yelling for players to hurry up from his position deep in the secondary. Plays were called and snapped in 16 seconds at times. It's not that the Bears necessarily will be using a lot of no-huddle action, but they will be ready for it.

"What we're trying to do essentially is slow everything down on Sunday," Trestman said. "This is not unique to us but the faster we go and the more chaotic we can make it for them the easier things are going to be on Sunday. Things happen so fast on Sunday that if we can create that environment as much as possible here — more game-like — we hope that they'll play better and we believe they will."

Extra points: Free safety Chris Conte intercepted a tipped Jay Cutler pass on the first play of team drills and Kelvin Hayden stepped in front of a pass intended for Earl Bennett in the slot to pick off the final play of a two-minute drill at the end of practice. In between, Trestman was happy with the quarterback saying "Jay was extremely sharp throughout the middle portions of practice." … The defensive play of the day was cornerback Zack Bowman's diving pass breakup on a fly route to Terrence Toliver. … There is no question the starting left end job is up in the air between Corey Wootton and Shea McClellin after Wootton made seven starts last season. … Left tackle Jermon Bushrod, rookie right tackle Jordan Mills and Brown committed false starts and Trestman ordered the offense to skip to the next play call. … Running back Armando Allen dropped two passes. … Officials estimated the opening crowd was between 2,500 and 3,000 fans.